Nefer Hieratic

Reimagining Egyptian Hieroglyphs Through Contemporary Type Design

Nefer Hieratic is an experimental type design project that explores how Egyptian hieroglyphs can be understood not only as images, but as systems of writing shaped by gesture, materiality, and graphic structure.

Rather than reproducing historical signs as archaeological artifacts, the project studies the transition from monumental hieroglyphs to hieratic writing, tracing the processes of simplification, abstraction, and formal adaptation that transformed images into writing. Through iterative drawing, structural analysis, and the development of reusable graphic radicals, Nefer Hieratic proposes a contemporary typographic interpretation rooted in the internal logic of the Egyptian script tradition.

The project forms part of a broader research agenda on non-alphabetic writing systems, cultural memory, and the role of typography as a tool for knowledge preservation and design innovation. By approaching hieroglyphs as living graphic technologies rather than static symbols, Nefer Hieratic seeks to bridge historical scholarship, contemporary type design, and speculative futures for ancient scripts.